Iowa mother accidentally kills toddler while backing out of driveway

MONTROSE, Iowa – Lee County Sheriff's officials say a 20-month-old girl is dead after her mother accidentally backed over her with the family car.

Sheriff Jim Sholl tells the Burlington Hawk Eye that Meyah James was pronounced dead at the scene of the Friday accident at the child's home.

The newspaper says the child's 24-year-old mother was backing the car out of the home's driveway while Meyah and her 5-year-old sibling were playing outside. Investigators believe the toddler saw her mother's car and walked behind it, unbeknownst to the mother.

Sholl says the child's death is "a tragic accident."